From the category archives:

Survival Tip Tuesday

How to Save Money on Fruits and Vegetables

August 31, 2010 · 3 comments

The cost of fruits and vegetables can, at times, completely kill a family’s food budget. Stores rarely have coupons for fruits and veggies, so it can sometimes seem like you are stuck paying full price. So what can you do? How can you make the most of your budget in regards to produce?

Here are a few tips that I have found helpful:

1. Stock up when produce is in season and the price is low.

Different plants have different seasons and when there is an abundance of one fruit or veggie then the price typically goes WAY down. Usually the in-season produce is on the front page of a store’s weekly sale ad so you can see which fruits and veggies to stock up on that way. Or you can know ahead of time which fruits and veggies are going to be in-season by looking at charts like this one (where you can see what’s in-season by state) and this one. Stock up when the prices are low and freeze (or can if you want to) the extra for use later.

2. Store produce properly to avoid spoiling.

If you are going to be stocking up on fruits and veggies and freezing them for later, then you will definitely want to take a look at these two charts from The University of Minnesota on How To Prepare Vegetables To Freeze and How To Prepare Fruits to Freeze. Sometimes you have to pre-cook certain vegetables so that they will freeze correctly.

If you are going to be using your produce soon, then you will want to know where to store your produce for maximum shelf life (this is a great resource from Mint.com, a site that I would HIGHLY recommend checking out if you haven’t already.)

3. Plan your meals around in-season produce, not what you are in the mood for.

Sure, you might be in the mood for guacamole, but if Avocados are $2 each, then you might want to wait until the price comes down. You will see a huge difference in your produce spending if you only plan your meals around what’s in-season… and you’ll get to try out all kinds of fun new fruits and vegetables too!

4. Use your meat budget to buy more veggies!

Did you know that one serving size of meat is only 3 ounces?? That means that a 12 ounce steak could feasibly feed 4 people! Use that extra money that you are not spending on meat to buy extra veggies, which are healthier for you than meat and veggies don’t cost anywhere close to as much per pound!

5. Buy from local farmers and vendors.

Buying local is one of the best things that we have done to reduce our produce budget. We have some great farms near us that harvest and sell fruits and veggies all through the year. If you live in a larger city, be sure to check out the prices at your local Farmer’s Market as well. Many times they are much less than the supermarket, especially if you buy in bulk.

6. Find or start a fruit and veggie food co-op.

7. Grow your own.

I will be the first to admit that gardening and me don’t go very well together. At all. I’ve tried and tried, but for some reason I just can’t get the hang of it! Now that Ryan is home during the day though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he started up a garden this next spring… I think the plants would like him a lot better than they seem to like me.

The friends of mine who have successfully had a seasonal garden have all sworn by a method called Square Foot Gardening for gardening in small places (where you don’t have a few acres to plant a crop). Just make sure you know which planting zone you live in and when to start your seeds so that you don’t plant too late or too early.

8. Buy your fruits and veggies the way God made ‘em.

Yes, I love pre-cut fruits and veggies too… but… if you are wanting to save money on your fruits and veggies then the way to do that is by cutting them yourself. Convenience is great at times, but those extra dollars saved can really go a long way.

What are your tips for cutting the costs of produce?

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Homemade Non-Toxic Cleaners – Floors, Counters, Tubs & More!

August 17, 2010 · 7 comments

When I first started couponing 2 1/2 years ago I was so excited that I bought just about anything that ended up being free after coupons. I remember one trip where I got tons of Windex, Lysol and other cleaners completely free and I was absolutely thrilled! Before couponing I tried to stay away from the non-natural cleaners, but when it was free…. I found it much harder to resist.

So, I started using these non-natural cleaners and would get major sinus infections each time. It took me a couple of times to see the connection, but I ended up throwing all of these free cleaners away.

But then there was this dilemma… how could I go back to paying the price I was before for all of the natural brands? As much as I love Seventh Generation products, goodness, they are expensive!!

I did some research online and talked to a few friends and found out that it is SUPER easy and SUPER cheap to just make your own non-toxic cleaners and all you need to have on hand are a few products that you likely will have in your pantry anyway!

To get a natural cleaning supply going you will need:

	White Distilled Vinegar (store-brand works great too)
	Baking Soda
	Various Essential Oils (*optional)
	Water

Yep, that’s it! There are other things you can add in later if you want to, but I haven’t found it necessary to have anything besides the ingredients above.

Counters and Floors:

Mix 1/2 cup of vinegar per 1/2 gallon of water. Add several drops of your favorite essential oil (I use tea tree oil). Mix it right in an empty spray bottle for counters, or in a bucket (or the sink) for cleaning your floors. You can also add some Rubbing Alcohol into the mixture if you want to.

Tubs & Showers:

Scrub with Baking Soda and Water. That’s all! There’s really no measurement for this, just however much you think you need to scrub the soap scum off.

Sink & Counter Scrub:

Mix baking soda with some drops of your favorite essential oil (I like peppermint oil for this!). Use the baking soda mixed with a little bit of water as a scrub.

For those of you who make your own cleaners, what do you use? What’s your favorite essential oil to use in your cleaners? Any tips or tricks that you would recommend?

**Note: DO NOT mix vinegar with bleach products for any reason. It will create a toxic chlorine gas.

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Getting The Best Deals With Priceline.com

July 13, 2010 · 6 comments

The cost for trips and vacations sure can add up.

Hotel room: $150/night
Rental car: $60/day
Airfare: a whole whole lot!

Not to mention all of the random expenses like going out to eat or any fun activities you want to do while you are gone.

Since I’m pretty sure I might be insane, I agreed to leave the morning after I got back from a blogging conference in Colorado to go with my husband and children on a trip to ANOTHER conference in another state. Yes, insane.

But with the insanity of taking two back to back trips, I have felt a little more sane knowing that we could save a whole lot of money by using the “name your own price” section of Priceline.com along the way.

Priceline Deals
So what exactly is Priceline?

It’s a website that lets you name your own price for hotels, rental cars and flights! You can pick any price you want and they will check their system to see if a company would be willing to go that low.

But there is a catch…

You can’t choose which hotel you stay in, which rental car company you use, or which airline you fly when you use the “name your own price” option. You pick the quality you want, or the size car you want, and then Priceline assigns you to a hotel or car rental company that meets your selection requirements.

We have scored some incredible deals by using Priceline like my rental car last weekend being 50% off, and the hotel we are staying in tonight being almost 70% off (for a VERY nice family-friendly hotel).

I mentioned on the Surviving The Stores Facebook page earlier today that I found a great deal on our hotel for tonight and a couple of readers posted two sites that are helpful when determining what price to bid (so that you don’t go too low or too high):

BiddingForTravel.com
BetterBidding.com

Both of these sites list what people have paid in cities across the nation by using Priceline, as well as giving you an idea of which hotel/rental car company/airline you are likely to receive when you bid.

I’d love to hear your Priceline experiences! Have you have good experiences? Bad experiences? What other sites do you use to find the best travel deals?

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How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies With Apple Cider Vinegar And Dish Soap

June 30, 2010 · 11 comments

How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies
Does anyone else out there hate fruit flies as much as I do?

I have tried a few different methods over the years to try to get rid of them, but this past weekend I heard about a new method (new to me) from some friends of ours using apple cider vinegar and dish soap!

Since the ACV/dish soap method is much easier than the paper funnel method that I had settled on in the past, I decided to try it. So last night before I went to bed I put out a bowl of apple cider vinegar and poured a decent amount of dish soap in with it.

When I woke up this morning, most of the fruit flies in the house were at the bottom (see picture at the top of the post)!! VICTORY!!

There are still a few left who are refusing to get in the apple cider vinegar, but hopefully they will get desperate enough and dive in soon.

I’d love to hear from you guys on this topic! What do you use to get rid of fruit flies?

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Mint.com: My New Love

June 22, 2010 · 4 comments

Survival Tip Tuesday
I am in love.

I never really thought I would say that about a website. Some websites (like Facebook) I have a love/hate relationship with. But I can say that I have 100% fallen in love with Mint.com.

I hadn’t heard about it until a couple of months ago and I wanted to test it out for a little while before telling you guys about it.

So… what is Mint.com? Mint.com is owned by Quicken and gives you a one stop place to see all of your banking information for FREE. You add your checking accounts, savings accounts, paypal accounts, mortgages, credit cards…. everything and they give you a complete summary of your spending. You can set up a monthly budget for different categories and Mint will give you updates on if you are meeting your budget or going over.

And the best part? (…at least for me) I didn’t have to do a THING after I created my account and entered my info!! I can log on at any time and it pulls all of our updated info so that I can see exactly where we are financially at all times. Yeah, I’m not very good at keeping up with financial information that I have to enter on a daily, or really any kind of regular basis.

They have bank-level security on their site, so it is extremely secure. I know that some of you guys will not want to use it because it means your info is somewhere online…. but really, all of our info is somewhere on some company’s server at all times anyway.

So, if you are interested in signing up, you can go to the Mint site HERE and get started. It was very easy to set up our accounts and took around 15-20 minutes.

Since using Mint, I have seen so many areas where we can cut back on our budget which is why I’m putting it under the “Survival Tip Tuesday” category.

Let me know what you guys think and if you love it as much as I do!

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How To Make Homemade Butter & Buttermilk

June 1, 2010 · 9 comments

I was inspired by this post on Homemade Butter that I saw the other week and decided to try it myself! Crystal made her butter by shaking it in a carton, but I’m a little too lazy for that and decided to use the food processor instead.

Organic Whipping Cream is on “manager’s special” pretty often at my local Kroger, so it’s possible that you could make organic butter (and a little bit of buttermilk) for very cheap.

I looked up a few other techniques and did the following:

1. Pour 1 carton of Heavy Whipping Cream into the food processor.
Homemade Butter

2. Turn the food processor on high and let it mix for around 3 minutes or so. The liquid will go from foamy, to soft whipped cream, to thick whipped cream, and then it will eventually turn yellow and separate. Let it mix a little while longer and then take off the top. You will have two parts… the butter and the buttermilk.
Homemade Butter

3. Strain out the buttermilk (I used a coffee filter). My 1 pint of Whipping Cream made 1 cup of buttermilk, which is the perfect amount of buttermilk to make Homemade Scones!!
Homemade Butter

4. If you want to, put the butter back into the food processor and add some water. Mix it all up again and strain it one more time. You can keep adding water and straining until it’s clear… but I was ready to have some bread and butter so I stopped after one time.
Homemade Butter

5. Put your strained butter into a container and store it in the fridge.
Homemade Butter

6. Enjoy!! And OH MY! Homemade butter is SOOOO much better than store bought!

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Is It Worth It To Shop At Club/Warehouse Stores Like Sam’s, Costco and BJs?

May 18, 2010 · 16 comments

It has been a LONG time since we have had a membership to to a warehouse club store. So when I got an email question last week about it, I thought, “This is a question for my awesome readers to answer!”

Here’s the question from reader Nicole:

Is it a better savings to buy from Sam’s Club/Costco than to buy food, etc. with coupons? With the membership fee and storage issues, which is a better value?

As of now, we have chosen to skip the warehouse memberships, but from what I’ve heard from others you can get some pretty great deals on bulk meat, dog food, produce, and some other items.

What do you guys think? Why have you (or why have you not) chosen to get a warehouse membership? What are the items that you save the most on?

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My Journey To Home-Cooked Meals

May 11, 2010 · 19 comments

As I’m sure all of you guys know, going out to eat instead of cooking meals at home is EXPENSIVE! Even just two people going out to eat 3 times a week (spending an average of $7 per person) adds up to $2,184 a year. But what do you do if you don’t know how to cook?

That was me. When my husband and I first got married almost 10 years ago, I had no idea how to cook. None. At all.

I was so busy with band, choir, tennis, school, and tons of other activities in high school that I just never watched my mom cook. It’s not that I chose not to watch her and learn how to cook, it honestly just never crossed my mind. Then I went to college and, seriously… who cooks in college?

So when I got married the summer after my sophomore year, I was completely clueless.

I still remember my first attempt at a “home-cooked meal”. I had bought one of those box meals that has the rice, spices and sauce in it. All you have to do is add the chicken. So you put the rice/spices in the bottom of a 9×13 pan, pour a specified amount of water in, lay the boneless/skinless chicken breasts on top of the rice, pour the sauce over the chicken, and then bake. Easy enough, right? I cooked it for the right amount of time and it came out looking and smelling wonderful! Ryan and I sat down for dinner and cut into the chicken, only to find that it was still VERY pink through the middle. Oh…. wait…. you’re supposed to THAW the chicken before you put it on the rice??? Yeah, I was clueless. BUT, lesson #1 was learned: thaw meat before you cook it!

One of our wedding presents from my mom was a recipe book with several of the recipes that she had made for us growing up. Several of my favorite recipes (like Homemade Chicken & Dumplings) were in there, so I was excited to try some! I knew exactly what these recipes were supposed to look and taste like, so I felt more confident trying these first (BTW, recipe books without pictures are one of my BIGGEST pet peeves!) There were a few recipes that I got correct right off the bat (like the Hawaiian Chicken) and then some that took me several attempts to master. But through my trial and error, lesson #2 was learned: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

So at that point I had a few recipes under my belt and I could make a pretty mean spaghetti (i.e. ground meat and Ragu)…. but I was in desperate need of more options. I’m still amazed that I never once thought during my high school/college years, “Hey, it might be a good idea if I learn how to cook BEFORE I get married.” Not once. {sigh}

My next discovery was the Betty Crocker Cooking Basics Cookbook (I have the 1998 version, the one I linked to is the 2008 version). I’m pretty sure we got this as a wedding present, but it didn’t come off the bookshelf until at least year 2 of our marriage. This cookbook has huge, colorful pictures of every recipe, as well as step-by-step instructions for all kinds of basic cooking skills. With the Cooking Basics Cookbook I learned how to broil/grill/pan sear meat, make a glaze, make bread crumbs, cook fish, steam asparagus, make baked potato wedges, okay… I really could go on and on. This cookbook was a lifesaver for me, and I would recommend it to anyone starting out their learning to cook journey. So… to the wonderful lady that got us this cookbook…. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

After going through the Basics Cookbook, I had the confidence to try more things, and even to change some things up (like using different spices from what the recipe called for). These next few years weren’t without error, but it was such a huge learning experience to try different things.

I have definitely learned to enjoy cooking (other than when I’m pregnant), but I am still FAR from a master chef. I watched Julie & Julia a couple of months ago and, oh my… the things that they made were just incredible! I really don’t think I will ever, EVER be at that level. But I love experimenting with different spices and recipes, and I’m no longer fearful of failing.

That is probably the biggest thing that I’ve learned in my cooking journey: it’s okay to fail. It’s okay to fail a lot. But if you keep trying, you will get it and you will be so glad that you didn’t give up!

I am truly so grateful for my mega-gracious husband who has eaten all of my experiments over the past 10 years. He has even eaten things that I wouldn’t eat! As far as I still have to go, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am in the cooking-realm without his support and patience.

So, that’s my journey so far. I still have TONS of things that I want to learn (like canning, sprouting, gardening, and making my own pasta, to name a few) and I look forward to looking back in another ten years and seeing all of the new recipes that I have under my belt!

What’s your cooking story? I would love to hear it!

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Homemade Coconut Oil Deodorant!

May 4, 2010 · 31 comments

I was so excited when my friend Crystal showed me this post over at Passionate Homemaking on how to make coconut oil deodorant!! I’ve been using Tom’s of Maine for a while now, but that stuff is seriously expensive. I definitely think Tom’s of Maine is one of the best options out there for store-bought deodorant, but if I can make it myself for practically nothing…. well, I’d rather do that!

I know a lot of you guys are concerned (like I am) with the aluminum that’s in most deodorant/anti-perspirants on the market today. While there are conflicting viewpoints on the research, the concern remains the same and honestly I’d just rather not take any chances.

In my opinion, the coconut oil deodorant has worked great since I’ve been using it and I plan on continuing to use it from now on. And the best part? It’s SUPER easy to make!

You can put the finished product into a jar and apply it with your fingers, but I had tons of deodorant in my linen closet (only bought because they were money-makers) so I took the aluminum-filled stuff out and put the coconut oil deodorant in instead.

Here’s what you need: (modified from Passionate Homemaking’s recipe)

5 Tbsp. of Coconut Oil (I used the Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil that I posted about HERE)
1/4 – 3/8 cup of Baking Soda (the original recipe calls for 1/4 cup but I ended up needing 3/8 cup to get it to the right consistency)
1/4 – 3/8 cup of Cornstarch (you can also use Arrowroot powder, but I didn’t have any on hand)
Essential oils (optional)

Here’s what you do:

1. Empty out your deodorant containers (if this is the way you want to store it). I twisted the deodorant all the way to the top and then scraped it off with a knife. It came off very easily. Then screw the plastic part back down.
Coconut Oil Deodorant

2. Put the Baking Soda and Cornstarch (or Arrowroot) in a bowl and mix. Then add the coconut oil and any essential oils that you want to go in there. I used Rose scented oil, but I don’t think I used enough because I can’t smell the rose at all.
Coconut Oil Deodorant
Homemade Coconut Oil Deodorant

3. Mix thoroughly until it becomes a paste. You can add more baking soda and cornstarch in equal amounts if it doesn’t seem thick enough to you.
Homemade Coconut Oil Deodorant

4. Using a spoon or spatula, put the coconut oil mixture into the empty deodorant cases. Clean off the rims (they will get messy as you can see in the picture below) and then put the lids back on to store. I totally expected it to only make enough for those two travel size cases, but I ended up having to get another trial sized container and two full-size containers to hold it all! This should last us for a LONG time!
Homemade Coconut Oil Deodorant

5. Apply like you would any deodorant.

Since I live in Texas and it gets MEGA hot here in the summer, I decided to store my containers in the refrigerator. Coconut oil turns to liquid when it gets above 76 degrees, and our house easily reaches that during the summer. If you live in a different area of the country where it doesn’t get as hot then you might be able to just store it in a cabinet.

So, what do you think? Do you think I’m completely nuts? Have any of you guys made homemade deodorant before? Feel free to post any different recipes or tips in the comment section below!

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What to do if your Catalina/Register Reward doesn’t print

April 27, 2010 · 10 comments

I get this question A LOT, so I figured that it might be time to turn the answer into a post.

We’ve all had it happen to us, I’m sure. We KNOW that we have bought the item or items that we were supposed to buy, and we KNOW that there is a promotion going on, but that little piece of paper (called a Catalina Coupon) doesn’t print from the machine that it’s supposed to come out of.

If you know that you bought the right items and that your coupon or Register Reward (if you’re shopping at Walgreens) was supposed to print but it didn’t, you have a couple of options:

The first (and the easiest) thing to do if it was an advertised promotion is talk to the manager or to customer service. Explain to them that you were expecting the Register Reward or Catalina Coupon to print, but it didn’t. Show them your receipt and show them where the promotion was advertised (either the sales flyer or next to the product on the shelf). Most of the time they will give you a hand-written coupon or a catalina coupon that they had behind the register (or sometimes even cash back) if you can prove that you were supposed to receive one. Keep in mind that this will likely only work if it was an advertised promotion.

Your second option is calling or emailing the Catalina company. If the Catalina or Register Reward promotion wasn’t advertised, or if you have trouble convincing the store’s Customer Service that you should receive the coupon (we’ve all been there!), then this will be what you need to do. Catalina Marketing is the company that is in charge of all of these promotions. You can call them at 1-888-8COUPON (option 3) and give them your receipt info, or you can use their Online Contact Form. If you can’t get your coupon from the store, then they are the only ones who can help you. They will have you send in your receipt to verify that you made the correct purchase, and then they will mail you your Catalina!

I hope that helps to answer some of your questions about Register Rewards and Catalina Coupons! Please leave a comment below if you have any additional questions or comments about this issue.

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